Diet Advice? She Just...keeps Gaining.

Hey all! Back for a second post in less than 24 hours--it looks like I've found my new internet haunt!

My girl--Bombay/Domestic Shorthair, 3 years old--weighed in this morning at 21.6lbs.

For the record--I travel fair often (husband in Seattle, I'm in Ontario,) and have to leave her with my father, who freefeeds and generally ignores her health otherwise. Totaling the time I've been gone to around a year when you lump it all together and take out my home-time, she's been going through free-feeding periods and nothing to do but eat and sleep for all that time.

When I got home in February, I decided enough was enough, and got her on a diet. She gets 1/4 cup of dry food a day (totaling to 100-110 calories), and 2 portions of wet food a day (totaling between 102-120 calories.) She has constant access to clean, fresh water, and I play with her often to get her moving.

Her weight slowly crept down from 18.7lbs (299oz) in February, 18.09lbs (288oz) in March, 17.4lbs (278oz) in April. It looked like progress, small as it was (I'm really afraid of HP, and my vet was pretty unhelpful because he's "not worried about weight." I have a different vet now, I see them on Saturday.)

This morning! This little chunk! She weighed in at 21.6lbs.

I weigh her in the morning before she eats, and I know the possibility of her having to poop is a thing--but surely said poop can't weigh enough to bring her weight of 17.4lbs up to freaking 21.6lbs?????

I'm at a loss, and really worried for her health. She doesn't drink or urinate more than usual, so I know she's not currently dealing with the things that point me towards feline diabetes, but damn if I'm not watching for it. She's eating just barely over 200 calories a day--I thought that change from free-feeding would make a difference, but looking at it, it feels like I've barely dented the damage done.

Any advice? Tips? Bad poetry related to the situation?

Thanks!

KarenKat said:

Hi and welcome! Weight can be so tricky, especially when there is more than one human or more than one cat involved (I remember that time I traveled for Christmas and told my BF how to feed Olive. She can be quite vocal and after a few days he texted that he was feeding her to stop her meowing all the time and that “porky cat is your problem” )

And of course each cat is a little different. Trin was our 18.6 lb flabby - I mean Tabby. For different reasons we switched his free-fed kibble from Purina Indoor (mostly corn) to Natural Balance Green Pea and Chicken (mostly pea and chicken). Immediately he got more active, stopped binging and over 3 years lost 3 lbs. my theory is the corn wasn’t processing well, and the new food processed better even with the same carb count. So maybe look into what kibble you are feeding and try and switch to a kibble with low carbs and meat-based protein.

And then Olive - aka porky cat - was being free fed the Natural Balance from the start. She is hyper food motivated and because she was a stray feels compelled to eat all food she is given. When we noticed her weight gain we started cutting back to a pitiful 1/2 cup per day. She didn’t really lose much at all and I felt her meals were not satisfying so I switched her to all wet food. That pretty much solved it - I think she just didn’t do well on the kibble.

Since your kitty is probably also unique, maybe this will help. Hopefully your new vet has some good advice.​

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Thanks for the welcome! I appreciate your advice (and humor) about this one!

Right now, she's on Friskies indoor--which I've had my doubts about for a while now. I think switching her is a safe bet, for sure. The wet food is grain free (Iams Perfect Portions,) so that combined with a good dry food will probably work wonders. Thanks again for your reply! <3

I would try to decrease dry food and increase wet food, or ideally, feed her wet only (look for not only grain free, but high protein, low carb = corn free, starch free, potato free, vegetable free etc). Good luck!

She's a witch said:

I would try to decrease dry food and increase wet food, or ideally, feed her wet only (look for not only grain free, but high protein, low carb = corn free, starch free, potato free, vegetable free etc). Good luck!

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I'd love to do a wet-only diet! It's a bit tricky, being on a budget, but I think I'll look deeper into it, because both you and google in general think it's a smart option.
Thanks for your reply! I've seen you around on the forum and I got excited when I saw that you'd replied.

My Lily was overweight when I got her. She had been abandoned with five kittens and would eat everything in sight. I fed her 1/4 cup dry food in the morning, and one 3-oz Sheba in the evening and separated my two cats while eating. She lost 2 lbs. over a year's time. I feed her a little more now because she looks terrible if she's too skinny.

DreamerRose said:

My Lily was overweight when I got her. She had been abandoned with five kittens and would eat everything in sight. I fed her 1/4 cup dry food in the morning, and one 3-oz Sheba in the evening and separated my two cats while eating. She lost 2 lbs. over a year's time. I feed her a little more now because she looks terrible if she's too skinny.

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Have you ever worried about feeding too little? Not at all saying you are, but--that's my biggest fear with putting Nyx on a diet, that I'll reduce too much and she'll end up sick because of it. From around 400cal to around 200cal a day was already such a big drop that the idea of taking more away--while probably what I need to do--stresses me out so bad.
Thank you for replying! I'm glad Lily is in good hands!!

No, I wasn't worried about it because I didn't know that a cat can get sick from too little. As it was, she was getting 1/2 cup dry per day when I adopted her, so what I fed was just a little lower. She did fine on it.

I don't think cats get fatty livers as quickly as people think. I took in a stray that had been missing for three months. She was skin and bones, but healthy. I fed her of course, but she had gone without food for a long time, only catching a mouse once in a while.

A cat should not gain 4lbs (!!!!) in one month! Holy guacamole. Especially if she is already on a diet and was initially losing weight.

Is she spayed?

If I were you, I would have a full blood panel done when you go to your new vet. Something could be off with her thyroid or other hormonal issues.

Lambert Vet Supply have this great table for working out the resting energy requirements of cats to help work out how many calories you should be feeding: Energy Requirements for Cats

The Waltham foundation also have some great info about pet nutrition: WALTHAM | Science Research Pet Dog Cat Health Nutrition Well Being

Good luck! I hope you find something that works for you. My boy Chief (the handsome fella in my avatar!) was also stray and is food OBSESSED. We boarded him for three weeks while we were moving and they free fed him any and everything and he ate it all, the greedy boy! We're still trying to get the weight off of him, so I feel your pain. We tried a low calorie food designed to help with appetite control, but it was high carb and seemed to make things worse! We've now switched to a wet food with high meat content with just one little meal of a high protein kibble for his teeth, but it's too early to see results so watch this space...

Dr0wsydruid said:

I'd love to do a wet-only diet! It's a bit tricky, being on a budget, but I think I'll look deeper into it, because both you and google in general think it's a smart option.
Thanks for your reply! I've seen you around on the forum and I got excited when I saw that you'd replied.

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LOL, I know I have a catchy name ;-)
There are some decent wet food budget options, my favourite is Tiny Tiger pate, but also fancy feast classic pates (although they do have artificial coloring and flavoring), also Redbarn Lamb

GraceW94 said:

Lambert Vet Supply have this great table for working out the resting energy requirements of cats to help work out how many calories you should be feeding: Energy Requirements for Cats

The Waltham foundation also have some great info about pet nutrition: WALTHAM | Science Research Pet Dog Cat Health Nutrition Well Being

Good luck! I hope you find something that works for you. My boy Chief (the handsome fella in my avatar!) was also stray and is food OBSESSED. We boarded him for three weeks while we were moving and they free fed him any and everything and he ate it all, the greedy boy! We're still trying to get the weight off of him, so I feel your pain. We tried a low calorie food designed to help with appetite control, but it was high carb and seemed to make things worse! We've now switched to a wet food with high meat content with just one little meal of a high protein kibble for his teeth, but it's too early to see results so watch this space...

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Oof, looking at that, I should be feeding her more than what I do now? This is so much more stressful than I expected!
I hope your boy gets where you want him to be--good luck!!

EmersonandEvie said:

A cat should not gain 4lbs (!!!!) in one month! Holy guacamole. Especially if she is already on a diet and was initially losing weight.

Is she spayed?

If I were you, I would have a full blood panel done when you go to your new vet. Something could be off with her thyroid or other hormonal issues.

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Yeah, I definitely have that on my list of things to talk to the vet about. She is spayed!

DreamerRose said:

No, I wasn't worried about it because I didn't know that a cat can get sick from too little. As it was, she was getting 1/2 cup dry per day when I adopted her, so what I fed was just a little lower. She did fine on it.

I don't think cats get fatty livers as quickly as people think. I took in a stray that had been missing for three months. She was skin and bones, but healthy. I fed her of course, but she had gone without food for a long time, only catching a mouse once in a while.

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That actually makes me feel loads better about all of this. I'm so glad she's with an owner that takes good care of her, tbh.

KarenKat said:

Hi and welcome! Weight can be so tricky, especially when there is more than one human or more than one cat involved (I remember that time I traveled for Christmas and told my BF how to feed Olive. She can be quite vocal and after a few days he texted that he was feeding her to stop her meowing all the time and that “porky cat is your problem” )

And of course each cat is a little different. Trin was our 18.6 lb flabby - I mean Tabby. For different reasons we switched his free-fed kibble from Purina Indoor (mostly corn) to Natural Balance Green Pea and Chicken (mostly pea and chicken). Immediately he got more active, stopped binging and over 3 years lost 3 lbs. my theory is the corn wasn’t processing well, and the new food processed better even with the same carb count. So maybe look into what kibble you are feeding and try and switch to a kibble with low carbs and meat-based protein.

And then Olive - aka porky cat - was being free fed the Natural Balance from the start. She is hyper food motivated and because she was a stray feels compelled to eat all food she is given. When we noticed her weight gain we started cutting back to a pitiful 1/2 cup per day. She didn’t really lose much at all and I felt her meals were not satisfying so I switched her to all wet food. That pretty much solved it - I think she just didn’t do well on the kibble.

Since your kitty is probably also unique, maybe this will help. Hopefully your new vet has some good advice.​

Click to expand...

Flabby Tabby
Baby Girl is our chunker. She gains weight easily but I'm bad about sneaking her treats, she's not a carb friendly cat and anything like dry food or food with any kind of carbohydrate load seems to make her gain 2 pounds overnight. A few of the others get carbohydrates only because they need to gain and are very hard to keep at a decent weight on raw alone, so dry food is their nightly treat. The skinnys get more, and the flabby tabbies () get less, or a bit of something else like chicken hearts or gizzards.

Dr0wsydruid said:

Oof, looking at that, I should be feeding her more than what I do now? This is so much more stressful than I expected!

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Oh no! Please don't stress. Are you only multiplying by 0.8? That's the amount for weight loss, rather than the 1.2 to maintain the weight of a neutered cat. Obviously it's only a guideline, not professional veterinary advice, and it depends on her activity levels. If she is an indoor cat or less active, she won't need as many calories. You mentioned speaking to your vet about it, so they might be able to suggest something and advise how much you should be feeding.

GraceW94 said:

Oh no! Please don't stress. Are you only multiplying by 0.8? That's the amount for weight loss, rather than the 1.2 to maintain the weight of a neutered cat. Obviously it's only a guideline, not professional veterinary advice, and it depends on her activity levels. If she is an indoor cat or less active, she won't need as many calories. You mentioned speaking to your vet about it, so they might be able to suggest something and advise how much you should be feeding.

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I multiplied by 1.2 first, but then by .8 at that one seemed to make much more sense.

As much as I like the Iams Perfect Portions, she seems to have developed a weird reluctance for the chicken pate--so switching to Fancy Feast slowly and working with my vet seem to be my next two big steps.

Thank you for your reassurance, I already love this place for how kind everyone is! <3

Dr0wsydruid said:

As much as I like the Iams Perfect Portions, she seems to have developed a weird reluctance for the chicken pate--so switching to Fancy Feast slowly and working with my vet seem to be my next two big steps.
<3

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The Fancy Feast Classics are a very decent way to start on a cat's weight loss plan! There's a long thread (here) about a 27-pound cat who ate a whole lot of Fancy Feast during his weight loss program.

I agree with other suggestions about ditching the dry food -- particularly any sort of diet food -- unless it's something with very high protein, like Dr. Elsey's. What 1 bruce 1 says about carbs is really important. Unfortunately, some/many diet foods cut protein and raise carbs... but carnivorous cats crave protein, meat protein, and that's what fills them up, not carbs. We went through this with our previous cat: diet dry food only made her gain more and I'm convinced the only reason she didn't get bigger was that we started feeding her a daily can of, yes, Fancy Feast. (The canned food happened by chance: we bought it as a treat and she liked it. Unfortunately, neither we nor the vet at that practice had any clue whatsoever about how to feed cats a cat-appropriate diet! I learned a lot from our failures feeding Brooksie.)

I've had good results with using a low-carb wet food only diet for weight loss in cats. Cutting out the dry food and high-carb wet food seems to help for many cats. Fancy Feast classic pate is an inexpensive way to do it.

I got my 20+lb kitty down to about 16lbs. He’s a big cat, but he was headed for obesity and diabetes.
We used to feed dry. Now I know how bad that is/can be.
I started him on homemade raw. I could only estimate the calories.
I kept track, by weight, of how much food he got, and weighed him every couple weeks.
Keeping a written log is crucial to charting progress.
If not losing, or gaining, I reduced his food by a half ounce.
I started him at 5.5oz daily, back in 2016. Now he gets 3.4oz daily of raw rabbit mixed with raw turkey. That’s only about 140 calories! He’s only getting a fraction of what’s “recommended “, but if he gets more, via snacks, he gains.

My vet is amazed that he can maintain his weight on so little.
He’s been evaluated for thyroid issues, he’s “normal”, for a ravenous bottomless pit. And he’s more satisfied on the raw than on dry, definitely.

Not everyone can, or wants, to do raw.
But as others have mentioned, a high protein, low to no carb wet food is definitely the way to go.

Fancy Feast Classic is pretty good. A bit high in fat, cause fat’s cheap, but very low in carbs. (Actually, as I started using a guaranteed analysis converter to check out the calories from protein, fat, and carbs in canned cat food, I’ve been amazed, and often disappointed, at how much fat is in so-called high-protein foods, sometimes as much as 65% calories from fat!)

It’s a long journey, and you have to ignore some pretty pathetic cries for more, as do any other caretakers.

Good luck!